Paper 60 Overview: Urantia During the Early Land-Life Era

This paper describes the time on earth when animals first began living on land instead of only in the seas. The era of land life started about 150 million years ago after the sea life had changed the world's climate and land areas. Many important changes happened during this time, including the rise and fall of the dinosaurs, the appearance of birds, and the beginning of flowering plants.

The early land-life era involved many different kinds of reptiles and saw the first mammals appear. Later, birds evolved from reptiles and became a successful group of animals. The paper explains how mountains formed and how continents moved during this time, showing how our earth's geography began to take shape.

The era when sea life was the only kind of life on earth had ended. The earth's climate began to change as land rose from the oceans, the earth's crust cooled down, and the oceans became deeper. All of these changes made different climates develop across the planet, especially in areas far from the equator.

The last part of the previous era had been the time of frogs, but these early land vertebrates were no longer the main animals on earth. Their numbers had greatly decreased because of the difficult changes in the environment. Even spore-bearing plants had almost disappeared during this challenging time for life.

This period left behind many layers of rock made of conglomerates, shale, and sandstone. The red colors in these rock layers across America and Europe show that the climate was dry. These dry areas experienced powerful storms that caused great erosion of the land.

Around 150 million years ago, the early land-life periods began. Life struggled during this time but did better than at the end of the marine-life era. North America was separated from other continents for a short time. About 140 million years ago, reptiles suddenly appeared and developed quickly into crocodiles, scaled reptiles, sea serpents, and flying reptiles.

About 120 million years ago, a new phase of the reptilian age began with the evolution and later decline of the dinosaurs. Land animals reached their greatest development in terms of size during this time. By the end of this age, dinosaurs had almost completely disappeared from earth.

These massive creatures grew larger but became less active and strong. They needed enormous amounts of food, and the land was so crowded with them that they eventually starved to death and became extinct. This period was a time of many freshwater lakes, as shown by the abundant freshwater fossils found in Colorado, Montana, and Wyoming.

The Cretaceous period got its name from the many chalk-making organisms in the seas. This period brought earth near the end of reptile dominance and saw the appearance of flowering plants and birds on land. During this time, the continents stopped moving westward and southward, and there were many changes in the earth's crust.

About 90 million years ago, flowering plants emerged from the early Cretaceous seas and soon spread across the continents. Soon after, fig trees, breadfruit trees, and palms covered Europe and the western plains of North America. Around 55 million years ago, the first true birds suddenly appeared. This small pigeon-like creature was the ancestor of all bird life.

The great Cretaceous period was ending, marking the finish of the great sea invasions of the continents. This is especially true for North America, which had experienced twenty-four great floods. Although there were later minor submergences, none can be compared with the extensive marine invasions of this and previous ages.

The end of this period also saw the end of continental drift and the building of modern mountains. The pressure of the continental masses and their slowed movement were not the only factors in mountain building. Pre-existing lowlands filled with lighter deposits became the first areas to fold and rise when the crust was under pressure.